from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: evan thomas is here, an author, a journalist and a professor at princeton. he has written on topics including robert kennedy, barack obama, the ci and wise men in his latest book he turns to president eisenhower, thomas sheds light on aspects of eisenhower's personality that have often been overlooked, he examines how the president's tactical skill informed his leadership and his foreign policy, the book is called ike's bluff, president eisenhower's secret battle to save the world, i am pleased to have evan thomas back at this table. welcome. >> charlie. >> rose: why do you call it ike's bluff? >> well, he was running a big bluff. he was bluffing with nuclear weapons. >> rose: meaning what? >> meaning ike's central insight was that he didn't want to fight any wars, not little wars, not immediate wars, he didn't want to fight any wars but the ways to avoid that was to threaten